would have been very compatible with human
habitation."
James Dixon, an archaeologist working with
Heaton, and others suggest that in addition
to the humans walking across Beringia, some
made their way into North America from Asia
by boat along the edges of land and ice.
"There had to be pockets of ice-free areas,"
Dixon said, standing in a trench outside the
cave. "There's no reason people couldn't have
come along the coast, skirting the glaciers just
the way recreational kayakers do today."
A few years ago Heaton and colleague Fred
Grady found parts of a human skeleton in the
cave. The bones were dated to about 10,500
years ago, and other tests revealed that the per
son had been raised almost entirely on seafood.
Though not as old as Clovis, the bones showed
that a maritime culture was well under way.
"By then people were already living up and
down the coast," Dixon said. "They had water
craft and engaged in trade."
Evidence that early Americans used boats
also comes from the Channel Islands off
HUNT FOR THE FIRST AMERICANS